(Shadamy) Pitcher
by EmersFanFic
Summary: They're an odd group of friends but it works. Amy's been friends with Sonic and the others all though High school and they haven't parted since. They're close, except Amy hopes to get to know Shadow more. What was originally a simple plan turns complex when feelings get mingled into the situation. Her best friend secretly loves her, and she loves his best friend.(Cover Drawn by Me)
1. First Game

A/N: Hey guys! So here i am again making a new STH story bc i couldn't help myself. The chapters are going to be longer, which means more content in fewer chapters. This story wont be as long as Ebony Rose for sure. I'm expecting around maybe 5-6 chapters for this story so yeah :-) i'm excited. Heads up, characters and scenes may seem all over the place but i'm going to try and fix that in later chapters. Another side note, it may seem like it, but i'm not dissing Sally in this story what so ever. Her and Amy's characters simply dont get along. It's not only bc of Sally and it's not only bc of Amy. Its just a clashing personalities sort of situaion. I hope you guys enjoy Pitcher as much as i am and i'm going to try and get it all done as soon as possible (So i can go back to writing Ebony Rose lmao)

3rd POV

They all were friends. An odd group of people but the seven of them were inseparable. Amy and Sonic have been friends since middle school. He lives right around the corner from Amy and so they have always been able to hang out freely. This also goes with Tails and Cream. The two of them were close friends as well and Tails more specifically was Sonic's best friend. The two were always beside each other.

Amy and Sonic's freshman year, they met Knuckles who got along with them too easily. It was uncanny how well Sonic and Knuckles bonded. Shortly after, Amy met Rouge who intrigued the pink hedgehog with her fashionable looks. The bat was a chill girl who sometimes had an attitude but Amy liked it. Ever since then, the four of them have been friends.

Sophomore year, Tails and Cream are finally in High School and are able to meet the other members of their squad. Sonic and Knuckles the year before were in different sports. Sonic being Track and Knuckles being in Football. Tails ran a tech club after school for people who wanted to build machines out of scraps during their freetime. Amy wasn't interested in doing anything, but joined her Sophomore class representatives in order to help set up their year.

Junior year is when High School life starts to get interesting. Sonic and Knuckles never drifted off from their group, but they definitely expanded their horizons with other people. They became some of the most well known sports players in the grade. Sonic was accepted as Track team leader for his record setting speeds and Knuckles wasn't too far behind with Football. In her classes, Amy was introduced to a new girl names Sally who constantly bragged about her expensive clothes and her expensive car and the fact her father was a billionaire who lived up the city. Amy didn't like her because of her ego. Rouge admired her outfits, and so did Sally, but when Sally asked Rouge to start hanging out with her instead of Amy, the bat declined. "No offence, but i'd rather hang out with genuine people rather than a rich-snoot like you, Hon." is what Rouge said, and embarrassed Sally had continued her business elsewhere. Junior year was the year the last member of their group came and joined. His name was Shadow, and he had relocated to their High School from another. He was already the Baseball captain there and after trying out at their school was formally accepted to replace their current one. Sonic and Knuckles liked the dark hedgehog immediately. They would always talk about how good Shadow was at pitching and how he should go check out their sports games. Amy never got to know Shadow as well that year, but Rouge did. She would tell Amy about him when they skyped or went out shopping over the weekend. Amy would've spent more time with Cream, but Junior year for Amy was a quiet time between them. What she didn't know was that Cream and Tails had been dating since their freshman year. So when Cream would state she was busy with work or other activities, it was because her and Tails were together.

Finally, it is Senior year and the group of friends, how diverse they are, are closer than ever. The first week of school, they all went to watch Sonic compete against their rival school (Shadow's former School) in the Track meet. Sonic won first, helping their school beat the other team and afterwards they all went to Waffle House to get pancakes.

"I swear one of the guys ate, like, ten bugs." Rouge says mid bite. They all laugh.

"Yeah! I saw that guy!" Sonic chuckles, sitting next to Amy with an arm resting above her shoulders on the back of the seat. "When i was running past him, he totally choked a little."

Amy laughs, spitting her orange juice back into her glass and they all laugh harder. People in the diner were giving them side glances but none of them cared about how loud they were being. Some other students were in the Waffle House as well.

"It's crazy how fast you were this match though," Knuckles says across from them, "I bet you hit a new record."

"I won't know until tomorrow, Knux." The blue hedgehog stuffs his face in more pancakes.

"I don't get why they can't tell you your time now." Shadow says. He's sitting at the edge of the booth next to rouge and and Knuckles. Amy looks over Sonic to glance at the ebony hedgehog.

"No clue." Sonic finishes.

The first four months of school holds the Track meets. Amy normally finds Sonic pulling into his driveway on the other side of the street later at night because of practices. She's had a crush on him since middle school. While these feelings linger inside, Amy has never acted on them. Something has her holding back; as if confessing will ruin their strong friendship. Cream knows about her crush, as well as Rouge who may or may not have already told Knuckles. There weren't many secrets between the friend group either.

They all know each other's most embarrassing stories. For example, Knuckles once got locked in a port-a-potty over night after a concert. They know what is happening in each other's lives and so on. Their group is a tight knot. Of course, not everyone is as close to another. Cream and Knuckles, while having mutual friends, haven't ever truly done anything together alone. They don't need to. Amy is the same to this by the fact that she has yet to really get to know Shadow. He's always busy. During school in their Literature class or their Science, he's always across the room working with his partners and after school he always disappears. Baseball season was coming up in a few months and Amy was certain they'd all go out to support him.

After Track, Football started and this year Knuckles was promoted to the team captain. When Amy sits in the bleachers with Rouge, Sonic, Shadow, Cream and Tails, they're always amazing by how strong Knuckles can be. Watching him run with a ball and plow through other players always has the group's jaws dropping. Like a form of tradition, after a game the group goes out to eat and celebrate no matter a win or lose.

March rolls around and Spring sports are now in season. Baseball is active and so is Golf (but no one pays attention to their Golf team because there's only three members).

Amy wakes up when her phone alarm goes off and she promptly gets dressed for the day. She puts on black tights and a cropped hoodie that hugs her hips along with matching converse. Amy doesn't normally care about how she looks but cares enough for her sanity. Throughout the years, Amy has always made sure to keep her quills shoulder length. It looked right on her. There was this one year in middle school when Amy decided to let her quills grow out and it became a mess. They would always get in knots and putting them into a ponytail never seemed to work for her.

Amy collects her bookbag and a poptart from the counter, says goodbye to her family and drives off to school. She picks up Cream first since the bunny only has a permit. She alwalys teases her about getting her license but Cream still states she's not ready.

"At some point, i'm going to have to charge you for gas." Amy says, backing out of Cream's driveway.

"Noooooo." Cream giggles and turns up the radio.

Before classes begin, the hallways are always hectic. Amy prefers to hang out at the entrance of the school since the traffic flow is reasonable. Because of this, everyone naturally gathers to say hello in the morning at that spot.

Amy and Cream walk up to Sonic who's wearing his Track T and blue jeans. He smiles and gives Amy a hug.

"Hey guys, what's up." He says. Cream gives him a half hug shortly after.

"Nothing much," Amy begins, smiling, "Just trying to convince Cream here to just suck it up and take her drivers license test."

Sonic laughs out loud, "Dude! You gotta do it! Don't be so scared, it's much easier than it looks."

Rouge, Knuckles and Shadow walk up and say goodmorning and shortly after Tails shows up. They chat for a few minutes before the warning bell rings and the group disperses between classes. Luckily, some of them have classes together so they're not completely split up all day.

Amy's first class, second, and third class are spent with Rouge. No surprise they're her lowest grades. Rouge tends to talk a lot between lectures and prefers to do school work at home instead of an opportune time. Ever since junior year, Amy has persistently told Rouge she'd have more time after school if she did her work when told. The bat just shrugs it off and goes back to discussing off topic events.

Amy takes a seat in her literature class and right beside her is Shadow. Unfortunately for Amy, this specific class isn't quite open for conversation unless they discuss books or analyze texts. Amy also has her science class with Shadow, and Cream who sits next to her, but Shadow sits across the room where she can't talk to him either. Ever since he's become friends with everyone, Amy's been struggling to grow closer with the ebony hedgehog.

He has a game today after school, it's a Friday and the Baseball team always have their games on Fridays. Sonic's texted her about five times in their group chat reminding everyone to show up so they can support Shadow. Of course she'll be there. Amy can't deny a chance to hang out with Sonic outside of school. She can't get enough of him.

Sometimes she feels as if he may want to be with someone else, so Amy distances herself. Them being life long friends doesn't mean he can't be with others. Amy replies back to the texts with a thumbs up. Immediately Knuckles responds with an OK emoji.

The sun is beginning to set low and the trees around the field burst into life with orange hues of life. Amy sits on the bleachers towards the left of the home plate next to Rouge. Amy called Cream about an hour ago asking if she was heading out since she didn't see any responds to Sonic's reminder, and the rabbit declined. She said she had some extra work to finish but would show up next time. Amy doesn't think about it too much as of late. This year with her friend has been slightly absent but Cream appears when necessary. Although, something in the back of Amy's mind does find it odd how many times Creams and Tails have missed group hang outs. She made a bet with Rouge that they were dating. The real bet was for how long. Of course the other three dorks heard and pitched in a bet as well. Amy, Shadow and Rouge's vote was since Sophomore year, but Sonic says Freshmen.

"GO SHAD- GO 18- PITCH IT FAST MAN!" Knuckles yells at the fence of the field. Sonic is right behind him, pumping a fist into the air and crying out chants. Over in the dugout, Amy can see Shadow turn is head over and flick the guys off. He's smirking though, and Amy nudges Rouge to show her.

"Those guys are idiots." She says laughing.

The game is about to start. The High School is up against their rival team. Ironically, Shadow had relocated from their School Junior year and replaced his position of rival Pitcherman to winning pitcherman. Amy can see the other team scowling across the field at Shadow as he walks towards the center of the field.

"Their panties are all in a bunch because Shadow left them." Amy says. Sonic and Knuckles had joined them a few minutes earlier and brough drinks along for them to share. Sonic sat beside Amy and Knuckles beside Sonic. Rouge stuck her tongue out at the red head when she saw him sit where he was.

Sonic laughs, "Shadow was telling me how he found that they'd made a separate group chat just to talk shit about him. He has a friend on the team still, and that's how he found out."

Knuckles leans forward to face the rest of them, "YEAH, and apparently just to freak them out Shadow replied to one of their messages and the entire chat froze because of the spams of panic."

They all laugh and the crowds around them get loud.

Amy smiles and watches Shadow position himself in his white and red uniform. He side eyes her, and she waves slightly. Then, he pitches. The rival team's batter misses the swing causing them to get a strike.

"YES! GO SHADOW!" Sonic yells, jumping out of his seat. Amy blushes beside Sonic, smiling up at the hedgehog. He always gets so excited during games.

Amy looks back to the field to spot Shadow. She found it amazing how fluent his actions were. Rouge whistles.

"I'm glad he's on our team." she says. Leaning over both Amy and Sonic, she snatches the large drink out of Knuckles hands. Taking a long sip, Rouge smirks, "He's so damn good."

"Hey-" Knuckles whines from the other side, "I'm the boyfriend."

Sonic chuckles and grabs the drink from Rouge. The four of them redirect their attention back to the game. They missed a short bit of the play, but from what Amy could see, no one has made a hit yet. And Shadow's pitches were on point causing the rival team to strike out.

She feels Sonic's arm rest behind her back and their proximity causes her cheeks to flush. She tries to hide the rosiness of her cheeks and watches Shadow throw his next pitch.

Amy notices the way Shadow stares at the batter. His eyes are intense and she'd surely crumble beneath his gaze if she were in that rink. It's such an experience watching him pitch, she thinks to herself.

Her cheeks are grow warmer as she continues to stare and his throws the pitch. Unknowing her draw drops when he makes another strike.

Rouge nudges her and says over Sonic's hollers, "You're drooling a bit, Hon."

She shuts her mouth and glares at the bat, but her cheeks never falter.

. . .

Their school won, not that they were concerned. The rival team got mercy ruled since they pretty much scored nothing.

Amy heads toward the dug out to congratulate Shadow while the other three discuss were to head out for dinner. She was awed by the way Shadow played. He's normally calm and collected but there was a demeanor that loomed around him during the game that caused her sense of self to act in foreign ways. Now, whenever she looks at him there is an essence that strikes her as powerful, and alluring.

Turning the corner to the dugout, she congratulates the rest of the team members and gives some highfives before stepping up to the ebony hedgehog. He pulls his back up over his shoulder, and Amy notices that he hasn't even broken a sweat.

Shadow spots her and smirks, "Hey, Rose." He says, lifting the fingers under the strap of his bag to wave. She smiles back.

"You were pretty amazing today." She says and he chuckles.

"Thanks. The other team's not so pleased with that though."

"Yeah we were poking fun of them over on the bleachers during the game." She says, and begins to walk out with him.

There is an itch under her skin that Amy can't seem to place. She has been wanting to spend more time with the hedgehog. He's just always busy when would they ever get together? She bites her lips in thought briefly before her eyes widen with an idea.

"Hey Shadow, so this is sort of random but are you any good with science?" She asks, peering up. He knits his brows together.

"Yeah, I'm pretty good. What's up?" He asks, steps becoming synced with her's.

Amy flushes, immediately regretting ever starting this plan. If it backfires she would be humiliated for the rest of senior year. For sure.

"Well finals are coming up and I'm struggling a bit with the class. I was wondering, if you're available, if you could loan me a hand with studying?" She spits out, and looking up to see his reaction, Shadow stops and faces her.

"You want my help?"

She nods. He pauses in thought and Amy begins to panic that he'll say no— he smirks.

"You owe me something in return then." Shadow says.

She huffs in exasperation, "What do you want then?"

This pause is longer, more drawn out and Amy swears it's just for the suspense of keeping her waiting. Amy puffs out her lips and he chuckles.

"How about this," He begins, "I'll help you study for the Science final if you learn to play baseball."

Play baseball? Amy smiles, "ok-"

"-With me, after school everyday before my practices." Shadow interrupts. He's leaning forward now, that smug smirk of his still displayed across his face and Amy's cheeks warm up. Private baseball lessons with him along with private study halls that she doesn't even need because she's acing the class?

Sticking out her hand, Amy nods firmly, "Deal."

Shadow takes her hand, binding their agreement and they continue over to their group.

Amy's heart is pounding in her chest the rest of the night.

What has she gotten herself into...


	2. Practice

A/N: Sorry that these two chapters are pretty slow. I'm really just trying to get the background info out of the way for the real drama you know? It was honestly so hard to write this chapter on some bits simply bc nothing was happening lmao. But I hope you guys enjoy- ;-)

3rd POV

When Sunday rolls around, Amy meets up with Shadow at the baseball field around noon to practice. Since the season was growing close to summer, the temperature outside was also increasing. She chose to wear sweats and a tank. Shadow wasn't going to make her run sprints, at least she hoped.

Opening the gate, she catches his eye and waves. He was wearing pretty much the same outfit and her nerves settled down.

Any rests her bag down in the dugout and greets the ebony hedgehog. "Hey." She says and he smiles.

"Hey," he pulls out a baseball and two gloves , "You ready?"

She laughs softly as they exit the area and onto the field, "as ready as I can be."

He had her stretch her arms first with him before they started the throwing the ball. The distance between them was minimal in the beginning as she learned the basics of tossing. Flicking your wrist, making sure to continue the throwing motion after the ball is released, extending your free hand to aim, how to adjust your grip, and so on. In about 30 minutes Shadow had Amy a good couple feet away.

He catches the ball thrown to him and he smirks, " You catch on fast, Rose."

Shrugging, Amy motions for him to throw, "It's not too hard. To be honest I was expecting it to be worse."

When the ball gets to her, she tucks it in her glove and places them in between her knees so she can pull her quills up. Even though they weren't doing any extensive activities it was warmer outside. She slides her hand back into her moist glove and looks to Shadow to throw.

"It isn't, you're right, but throwing is only a portion of the entire sport." He says. Pausing, he lifts his arm to firmly catch the ball and adds, "A more difficult toss is pitching if you want the give that a try."

Amy perks up and walks over smiling, "Yes please, I'd love to."

They move to center field where the pitcher's plate is and Shadow stands atop it. He rotated his arms and demonstrates the key motions of a pitch.

"You're going to want to move your arm like so before rotating your body and releasing the ball."

Amy nods and steps forward to position herself as Shadow did. Holding the ball in her right hand, she looks forward at home plate. But when she feels hands slide down her arms and gently clutch her wrists, she freezes. Cheeks burning, she stammers, "W-what are you doing?"

He huffs a laugh into her left ear, "I'm showing you how to move your arm."

Nothing he said however lowered her heart rate because he was so damn close. She could feel his chest practically touch her shoulder.

As she moved her arm, he followed until he released her and smirked. "Alright give it a shot."

The problem was, she hadn't registered any of the movements because of how his breath hit her ear or how his fingers grazed her wrists. But in a half hearted attempt she widens her arms and in one sweeping movement pitches the ball to the net behind home plate.

She smiles weakly, "How was that?"

He jogs to fetch the ball and turns around, reciprocating the smile , "Amazing. You threw that almost perfectly, but this time try it with more force."

. . .

Amy pulls into her driveway a couple hours later. Her arms were sore as well as we chest, but for two completely different reasons.

Peering over to Sonic's house, she notices the light of his room is on. Maybe he's playing games or talking to Tails.

The was beginning to set and she needed to head inside to eat dinner with her family, so Amy gathers her bags and enters her house.

Tomorrow she had tutoring.

"Are you doing anything after school?" Cream asks as her and Amy wait outside the school for the others.

She flushes and turns to hide her reddening cheeks, "Uh- ya I have tutoring."

The bunny laughs, "You? Tutoring? You have great grades. Whoever's tutoring you must be hot." She leans forward and smirks. Amy was avoiding all eye contact. "Oh my god who is it, who is it!" She tugs on her sleeve playfully. Amy attempts an escape from prodding hands and is cut off abruptly when Sonic and Shadow walk up to them.

"Hey guys." Sonic says. They were both wearing school Letterman's. Sonic's was decorated with awards and patches for Track and Shadow's decorated similarly with Baseball. The school colors were white, grey, and red, their mascot being the Savages. Sonic's main coat was red, while Shadow's was grey.

The blue hedgehog questioningly smiles at their situation; Amy grabbing both of Cream's wrists as she tries to dodge the attack. He shrugs, "As you were."

She looks to her left and Cream shoves her hands forward to poke again. She mouths "Who is it" and Amy repeatedly shakes her head.

Rouge and Knuckles show up a second before the bell rings, Tails was already inside having shown up thirty minutes earlier, and they all depart for their first classes.

Splitting to either sides of the school, Shadow turns around and calls, "See you after school?"

Smiling, Amy nods and gives him a thumbs up ,"Yeah, see you here." Immediately after she says those words, a soft gasp is released behind her and Amy's eyes widen.

"NO way!-" Cream shrieks, and Amy hurriedly tackles the bunny to keep her silent.

"It's a long story" She says,walking to their classes.

Amy decided they'd go to her house for tutoring. Thankfully, both her parents worked so no one would be in the building when they arrived. She didn't want to face the series of questions they would have lined up for them.

"Make yourself comfortable." She says, tossing her bag onto her bed when they get into her room. She had cushions and a coffee table on the other corner of her room for them to work at, which was for the best right now because Amy didn't how how'd she make it through the evening knowing Shadow was on her bed.

He plops down onto one of her seats and from the side of her vision can tell he's scoping out her room. He's never been here before. To her house before. She swallows. This is what she wanted. It was. In the end, she really wanted to grow closer to Shadow.

Taking out her notebook from her bag, she hears a slight buzz behind her, and turns around to look at her window.

"Pssst-" She hears and cautiously walks to her window frame. Poking her head out, she looks around to search for the noise.

"Pssst- Ames!" Her eyes widen when she sees Sonic's head hanging over the side of his house. He has to have at least half his body outside his window to get her attention. His room faces the street.

"Oh my god Sonic," Amy says, leaning out her own window to get closer, "What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to fall out of your house?" He rolls his eyes, but averts them to the grass under him.

"Is that Shadow's motorcycle in your driveway?" He asks.

She glances around the corner of her house to acknowledge Shadow's ride. "Yeah." She says.

Sonic loses some of his balance but quickly recovers before adding, "Why is he at your house?" This was a hot topic today apparently. First Cream, now Sonic. Amy figures he's simply curious unlike her other friend, who continuously nagged her about him through their classes together.

"He's tutoring me."

"Really? You have amazing grades." He says, ears flicking.

Amy groans, resting her elbows on her window seal. She crosses her arms, "He's helping me for my Science final. Speaking of, don't you have like, a mountain load of make up work from when you skipped school last week?"

This time it's his turn to groan, "I do, but it's boring. Who knew teachers were so cruel?"

She laughs, and raises herself back towards her room. She waves, "Talk later." He waves back and his head disappears around the corner.

Amy turns around to situate herself with Shadow and notices his eyes flick down to his phone. Her cheeks redden. Was he watching her the entire time? Mentally shrugging any further thoughts, she grabs her notebooks off the bed and drops down onto the cushion beside him.

"Sorry, Sonic was talking to me."

Shadow tucks his phone away and smirks, "I always forget you live next to everyone." She nods.

"What part of town do you live in?" When she asks, Amy watches as he huffs out a chuckle and rubs the back of his neck.

"I live out of town." He says offhandedly. Her jaw drops at his statement.

"You live in Emerald Estate?" Emerald Estate was a closed off cubicle of houses that only the rich could afford. This meant that Shadow's family lived in what could closely resemble a mansion. Amy and Rouge have spent hours standing outside their gates wondering what it would be like to go inside. The forbidden land of Emerald Estate. Rouge said that one of her main goals in life was to befriend anyone who lived in there just so she could experience what it is like.

_Shadow lived there._

His cheeks have a speck of blush and Amy realizes that he may not view the area the same way she does. "Why haven't you said anything?" She asks.

Shadow shrugs. He catches her eyes in his and his lips flatten, "Everyone else who live there are all snobbish pains in the ass. I don't necessarily want anyone to think of me that way."

"Other kids at the school live there?" She asks incredulously. The only people she's heard rumors of that live in Emerald Estate go to their rival school. The one Shadow left.

"Sally Acorn. You know her right?." He leans back into the chair. Amy fumes. If there was anyone to dislike at their school it was Sally. Not because she was popular, or mean, or even rich, but simply because she and Amy didn't get along. Their personalities clashed far too often in school. Sally speaks before she thinks which results in punishment, except for some unknown reason everyone else will pay for her poor choice in words. Now Amy understood. She had money and a higher reputation.

"Yes." Amy grits, pouting. Shadow laughs.

"Not fond of her either?"

She shakes her head and faces Shadow, "She's not my type."

Their study session turns into sporadic conversations in between reviewing work. They talked about school and friends and family; Shadow learned that Amy's older Brother was Scrouge. He's a familiar face at the school since he's the kid always getting himself into trouble. It's a game at this point not only for his own entertainment but to torment his and Amy's parents.

"I didn't see his room coming up." Shadow questions, gesturing outside her room with his pencil. She shrugs and uses her own pencil to point to her ceiling.

"His room is in the attic, courtesy of my mom."

"What did he do to get put up there?" He asks.

Smirking, Amy responds, "Caught having sex in the girl's locker room during school hours."

Shadow laughs, cheeks tightening from his smile and she feels her face heat up because frankly, it was an attractive trait. She's come to the realization that Shadow has a lot of those; attractive traits.

The two hours in her room with the hedgehog opened her eyes to a lot of things. One, he definitely was attractive and was most probably taken. Two, they had a lot in common and whenever they disagreed to something it was easily resolved. For example, Amy thinks Dr. Pepper is better than Coca Cola while Shadow thinks otherwise. They ended their dispute mutually loving Mountain Dew. And lastly, and most unfortunately, she might be developing a small crush on the guy. It was inevitable wasn't it? Her catching feelings. It's what any 18 year old does this time of year.

She lost track of the time roughly an hour ago and because of this it was a heart retching realization her parents were home when she heard her front door open. Her eyes widen with embarrassment the second her mom calls, "Honey, whose motorcycle is parked outside?"

Shadow chuckles under his breath as Amy lowers her head into the palms of her hands.

"I'm so sorry." She mutters. She lifts her head up, face heated and adds, "If I don't play this right, you might be staying over for dinner so please play along." And with that she stands up with Shadow following behind to walk down the staircase and face her parents.

Her mom was the only one at the bottom of the stairs; Amy's dad already elsewhere in the house after arriving. Upon noticing Shadow, her mom's eyes widen with a pleasant smile.

"Who is this handsome young man? I haven't seen him before, is he related to Sonic next door they do look oddly similar. Weird because I always thought you'd end up with that blue fello-"

Cheeks burning, Amy hastily grabs onto Shadow's wrist and drags him out of her house before her mom can ask any more questions to embarrass them both.

Trailing behind and grabbing the door knob, Shadow waves goodbye to Amy's mom who smiles sheepishly in return.

Amy inadvertently keeps a hold of his wrist until she's gone all the way to his ride. Her heart is racing for a multitude of reasons and she bites her lips after releasing her grip on Shadow.

Laughing awkwardly, she rubs her arms against one another, "Sorry about that, my mom's just curious."

Shadow nods in acknowledgement, having heard everything her mom said before he was hurried out of the building. Her comment about Sonic had him intrigued to say the least.

"It's good. She seems very nice, you're lucky to have a mom like that." He says. It's a sweet testament, but Amy can't help but notice the off-toned message that lies beneath. She's unable to ask about it because he's already lodged atop his motorcycle, revving it up to drive home.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Rose." He smirks, and waves goodbye. She smiles as he leaves, heart still beating unusually fast, and in her head concludes that there is a lot more to Shadow the Hedgehog than he's letting on. She truly was going to get to know him.

. . .

Walking out of the baseball field, players were just making their way in for the official practice that Shadow wasn't attending that day. As they move past one another, a few of them recognize Amy and say hi or give her an offhand- high five.

Her and Shadow are behind the bleachers when she decides to bring up his previous comment.

"Hey, Shadow? Could I ask you something?" He stops walking and turns around to face her.

He nods, "Anything."

She adjusts the strap of her bag in procrastination of her question, but swallows and speaks up. "Yesterday, you mentioned something about how i'm 'lucky to have a mom like that'. Is, uh, is everything alright at your place?" She peers up and finds his face shocked. His jaw slacks for a brief moment before he awkwardly smiles.

"Ah. I guess it could be taken that way." He says to himself, and avoids eye contact. Amy's concern grows as he doesn't answer. Her fears of him being in an abusive household were causing her stomach to sicken and knot. If his mom was neglecting him, or worse, she wanted to help. Shadow looks over towards the field, then back at Amy and in a hushed voice responds, "I'm an Orphan. I live with foster parents because when i was a baby, my mom died and my father left me." He pauses, eyes cautiously scanning the pink hedgehog, "I didn't mean to worry you. The family i'm currently with is very caring."

Amy's shoulders slump as she releases the breath she was holding. Outstretching her hand, she gently rests in amongst his arm. "I'm sorry." She says simply, locking his eyes with hers. They were pools of emotions, and yet she could only see so many. As if any more could manifest, Amy thinks about if this causes him to hold back from anything. She smiles, "But on the bright side, like you said, you have a very caring family and that's great. So let's go to Waffle House and meet up with everyone because they're probably going to wonder why the hell we're late."

He chuckles, appreciative of the mood change. "Let's go."

. . .

At the fast food joint, Sonic is the first to see Amy and Shadow walk in together. Did they come from the same place or coincidentally arrive at the same time? Amy spots him and he signals for them to come their way.

"_Finally_," Tails whines. He is sitting in between Cream and Rouge while Sonic and Knuckles sit across the booth. "This is the first time in forever that i'm able to come out with you guys and i'm not allowed to order anything until the entire party arrives. What were you two doing to be thirty minutes late?" Amy's cheeks flush and she turns her attention elsewhere but Sonic catches the shift in color. His chest tightens. Amy hardly blushes like that nowadays. What _were_ they doing?

Shadow is the one to answer, "I'm helping her study for exams." He moves to sit next to Rouge and Amy sits next to Sonic. The waiter comes in and they all order, Tails obviously first.

"Exams are a little ways away, what are you stumped on?" Rouge asks. Sonic leans over to face Amy who shrugs. Her cheeks were still slightly headed, but her mannerisms show no fluster.

"Science. I'm afraid that by the time exams get here I wont be able to retain enough knowledge to pass." To that, Rouge pops her lips in acknowledgement.

"Rumors have it that teacher's gonna have 2 exams." Knuckles pitches in. "So it's smart to start early. You really are the brains of this group, Ames." They laugh.

Sonic can't help but let his laugh falter. She went to Shadow instead of him. They were best friends, and she normally came to him for everything, but this time it wasn't him. As he sips his water, he thinks maybe his crush was getting the best of him. Amy has the class with Shadow, of course she'd go to him. But then again, he also has the same science class, just different periods.

He was over analyzing. At least that's what he told himself.

Knuckles elbows him when the others get into a heated discussion. "You okay man? You've been thinking pretty hard the past few seconds."

Sonic adjusts himself to face the echidna so his words don't carry, "I'm just confused why Amy didn't come to me for tutoring." His friend flattens his lips in thought.

"You could offer to help tomorrow? Amy's a pretty flexible 'hog. I'm sure she'd say yes. And if you're feeling really ballzy, ask her out to dinner."

He nods with determination.

The time came and Sonic jogs to catch up to Amy before she enters her car.

"Ames! Wait up-" He calls. She smiles and he can feel his face tingle with a familiar sensation and emotion.

"Hey, Sonic." She says, closing the door to her car. The sun was setting behind the two of them, causing her eyes to shine a vibrant emerald and he has to stop himself from staring too long.

"So if you'd want, I could help tutor you tomorrow after school? Maybe after that we could head out somewhere for a bite." He asks, letting it all out before he stutters or slips up his wording. He watches her face soften. But, it was ridden sad. Or guilt? He hopes it's his imagination playing games again.

"That's sweet of you to offer, but Shadow's been an excellent tutor so far. I know you're busy with all your makeup-work and I wouldn't want to be a burden." Amy rubs her arms together. He knows that gesture. There was more on her mind that she was saying.

"I promise you're not a burden." He assures, "But i get what you're saying. How about dining then? Anytime this week whenever you're available i can take you out someplace to eat." When he says this, her face instantaneously reddens.

She opens and closes her mouth a few times. Amy laughs slightly, "Are you asking me out on a date?"

Sonic sheepishly smiles, "Uh- yes." The girl in front of him sighs and reaches over to hold his hands. Her smile is constant, and it makes him ache.

"We've been friends since forever," She begins, "And I had no clue you felt this way about me. I'm just not on the same page. This is super awkward, and i'm sorry for making it so, but I'm going to have to reject."

They stand in silence, and as if time has stopped the rest of the world grows silent as well. Sonic swallows.

"Yeah this is awkward." He says, and they both gently laugh. "So, forgetting I said anything, let's pretend i didn't make this weird?" Amy lets go of his hands and opens her car door.

"I won't make it weird if you don't." She says. "See you tomorrow, Blue."

As she drives away, Sonic is bummed that the situation didn't play out like it did in his head, but in the end, he can't be sad for too long because he still has an amazing friend under his belt. Walking to his own vehicle, he shakes his head. It was going to be hard getting over her.


	3. Second Game

3rd POV

"Be honest, how often do you talk to my mom when I'm not around." Amy asks, cornering the Blue hedgehog at his locker in between classes. He laughs.

"Oh no, what did she say this time." He sticks his arms into the locker, but never averts his gaze away from the pink hedgehog below him. Their height difference wasn't too drastic, not unlike her and Shadow, but he always finds it cute that she has to look up to meet his gaze.

Amy shakes her head, "The other night, she was saying the usual about how much of a gentleman you are," he nods as she speaks, "and then said something about our families eating dinner together sometime." Sonic groans when he hears that. Closing the door to his locker, he shoves the items grabbed into his bag and chuckles.

"That's going to be horrible if your mom sets it up." He says.

"Exactly. I don't think I can handle my brother and my mom's arguments anymore. Tell your mom about going to the beach or anywhere other than your or my house. Quick escape for everyone." Laughing, they don't notice another figure walk up towards them.

"Hey, Sonic." Sally says, hugging the book in her arms. Amy's smile immediately drops and she inconspicuously puts space between the two of them. The chipmunk smiles brightley. She was gorgeous, and bold, and it killed Amy that they didn't get along but that's life. "Just checking in that you don't forget to meet me after school so we can head out."

Amy's ears flick and she faces away to listen in on their conversation better. Pretending that she wasn't completely eavesdropping, she notices Shadow down the hall. He was walking their way, and when his eyes catch hers his lips stretch into a smile. It was soft, and Amy almost brought a hand to her chest.

"Do you have any plans after school, Amy?" Sally asks, voice piercing her thoughts and she stutters.

"Uh- Yeah." She says. Sally begins to say something when Shadow arrives next to Amy. "Hey, Shadow."

He glances down at her and smirks, "Hey, Rose."

Sally is oblivious to the exchange, but when she peers to her right and observes how Sonic's attention is impotent to anything other than the pink hedgehog, her thoughts run mad. How was she supposed to get with Sonic if he didn't see any interest in her?

Sliding a hand through his arm, she smiles up at Sonic who looks at her in question. "I'll walk you to class. The bell is about to ring."

"Sounds good, talk later guys!" Sonic waves goodbye with his free hand as Sally guides them down the hall.

Amy leans back against the locker and faces Shadow, who precedently had already drawn his focus to her.

She blushes with the unexpected attention.

"How about you come to my place after school today?" he says, almost hesitantly, as if he weren't sure to ask the question in the first place. "We could take my motorcycle up to Emerald Estate, and i'll drive you back to your car afterwards."

The bell rings and they start walking down the hallway to their Science class. Amy knew she wanted to go to his house. He lives in a mansion, in _Emerald Estate,_ of course she'd say yes, but to not show how eager she was she pauses a second before responding, "I'd love to."

. . .

A week passes of baseball practice and study sessions and to Amy it's been a great week. Her and Shadow are getting along more so than she would have imagined. She doesn't understand how they never clicked earlier in the year.

The middle of the week, Amy told Rouge about how he lives in Emerald Estate and she practically begged her to join them one day after school. When they got to his house, Rouge was glowing head to toe with sheer excitement and awe. "I'm never leaving." She had said.

Towards the end of the week, Amy felt as if there was this unspoken _thing _between her and Shadow. There would be moments of silence when neither of them would speak, but just stare at one another until they or something else broke the ice. And when saying goodbye, her chest would ache and she realized too soon that she didn't want him to go.

It's Saturday, and Shadow has a Baseball game that her and everyone else were attending. Even Cream and Tails said they'd make it.

The weather forecasts warm weather so she dresses in jeans and a red tube top. Amy has saved their seats in the front row of bleachers since she had stayed beforehand to watch the warm up practice for the game.

"You look cute," Rouge says, walking up to Amy holding Knuckle's hand. They sit beside her and peer out to the field. Her cheeks flush with the compliment and she pats the bench, inviting them to sit.

"Where's Shadow?" The echidna asks and ducks his head to look past his girlfriend.

"He's in the dugout. You guys got here at a reasonable time, the game starts in ten." They nod as Tails, Cream and Sonic arrive; safe to assume he gave the two a ride.

The sun begins to set right as their game begins, the stadium lights flicker to life and the field is illuminated for play. The teams present their captains, Shadow and a Wolf from the other team flip a coin to decide who's in the field and who's batting first.

"That guy looks mean." Cream says, pointing her finger and gesturing outward.

"I heard he caught a ball once with his bare hand and it didn't leave a scratch, he just continued with the rest of the game." Sonic chimes in.

Lucky for their team, the toss has them batting first. Every hit has the group calling out chants and jumping out of their seats. By the third batter out, the team has scored up to 5 points. A strong start. The game doesn't escalate from there. While the opposing side may look brutal, their skill outmatches them tenfold and they won the game with a score of 23 to 7.

"That was fast." Knuckles laughs when everyone stands up to exit the bleachers. Amy flicks her eyes over to the dugout in hopes of seeing Shadow but there are too many of the same suit. She bites her lip and picks up her pace.

"I can throw away the trash." She offers, grabbing her friends' bottles and popcorn bags.

"Thanks hon."

"Sweet, you're the best Ames."

"We'll be by the concession stand." Tails finishes and she parts ways to find a trash can, and to go find Shadow. Her fingers tingle with temptation and anticipation. She couldn't wait to see him. It was a new feeling, but over this past week Amy's been adjusting to the sensation.

He's outside the dugout to her surprise, talking to sports mates, and she slows her steps. Her mouth suddenly grows dry, as if she had something to be anxious about? She doesn't understand why she is reacting so strongly now of all times. She always comes behind the dugout after games.

Except this time is different. They both know it.

Their relationship has increased drastically as to a few weeks prior and she didn't have an acknowledged "crush" on the hedgehog last game. But it wasn't as if she were acting on that crush. How would he react? Maybe he's just that coy and cute and cunning? Maybe he gives everyone small smiles and gentle smirks. Maybe he gives everyone open mouth laughs and playful elbow bumps. She was over thinking, and of all times didn't need it to happen now.

He spots her and his face lights up with that goddamn soft smile of his. Her cheeks explode to life and she can practically feel the heat sizzling off of them and up past her ears. Shadow has a cute smile. He has dimples that are unmistakable. Of course, if she were to bring it up no one would know what she was talking about.

Amy smiles back, raising a hand to wave at his friends as she walks up to them. "Hey Amy!" One says.

"Hey, great game today." He chuckles and drives a fist into Shadow's forearm.

"Aw- thanks but this guy here's the real show. I swear it amazes me every time you pull a fast one." The other teammate shakes his head and Shadow rubs his nape.

"Don't discredit yourselves. You guys were amazing as well." He says, eyes flicking down to Amy's and her heart leaps in her chest.

"Well, we've gotta split! That concession stand doesn't have too many hot dogs left with the crowd we had tonight!" The mobian on her right chants, waving goodbye to the two hedgehogs. She waves bye back and turns around to talk to her friend.

"You really were great tonight." She says delicately. His eyes never leave hers and she grows warm under her skin. _Of all times_, she thinks again.

"Thank you, Rose." he steps forward and hesitantly takes hold of one of her hands. Her eyes widen and her jaw slacks. "I'll admit, I feel as if I may be going crazy."

"Why?" she breathes, voice more conserved than before. The contact of their hands drives thrills up her arms; her fingers lacing themselves between his with ease.

"My mind is running a thousand miles an hour and i can't think straight." He tilts his head, his smile softening further and she blinks. Ironically, so is hers, but at this moment it's silent.

"I'm sorry." Amy steps forward, body essentially flush against his.

"Good. It's your fault." He finishes, and drops his head to press his lips onto hers. She instantly closes her eyes and raises her toes to meet halfway. Her skin vibrates beneath his as she breaks apart and reunites to angle herself better. He didn't taste like salt, as she would've assumed from recently playing on field. He tastes sweet but fresh and it makes her wild. Amy pulls away one of her hands to rest it upon his bicep, his own to her lower back.

"What is taking Amy and Shadow so long?" Sonic asks after picking up his two chili dogs. Most everyone shrugs or shakes their head but Rouge snickers.

"For all I know, they're making out right now." She jokes, then freezes. She smiles wickedly and as soon as it was said, they're all sneaking their way over to the dugout. The bat guides them to the fence before gesturing they stop. One by one they peek their head around the corner and gasp.

Sure enough, hands intertwined and Amy on her tippy-toes, they catch them red handed behind the dugout. Tails makes a barfing noise and Cream giggles.

"I didn't know they were a thing." Knuckles whispers, still watching his friends lock lips. Rouge nods.

"I think this is a first, hon." She says, deciding it weird the amount of time they've been watching their friends make out, she pulls everyone around the corner.

Sonic crosses his arms, "I knew she had a thing for him. I guess i'm just shocked to see it happen so soon."

"What happened so soon?" Says a voice behind them and they all shriek. Standing before them was Amy and Shadow; Shadow holding his duffel bag over one shoulder, their hands still laced together.

Her friends blush and stammer and Amy laughs, "Let's get out of here. How does Waffle House sound?"

"You guys a thing now?" Knuckles points, ignoring Amy's first question. The two exchange looks and she feels his hand squeeze hers.

"_Yeah._" They say together.


End file.
